‘Hannibal’ Recap: Pigs, Piggishness, And Veiled Threats

This episode of Hannibal had an overriding theme: Playing a part, and possibly committing a little too deeply to it. And both Will and Margot are putting themselves at risk, as the stakes are raised further.

This episode introduces Mason Verger, played by Michael Pitt, and Pitt’s a great addition to the cast. Mason is obviously a monster: In fact, there’s an extended sequence where he makes it very clear to his sister that he’s breeding pigs to eat her alive using a method fans of the books will be familiar with. But Pitt underplays it just enough that he stays under the top.

The introduction of pigs is an interesting theme not least as Hannibal has been said, over and over again, to view the humans around him, with one or two exceptions, as swine, fit only for eating and contempt. And when Hannibal meets Mason for the first time, it’s as if Hannibal has met the Platonic ideal of his view of humanity.

Meanwhile, Will’s downward spiral continues. The episode actually opens with a retelling of his confrontation with Randall Tier in the last episode. Randall, it turns out, didn’t die from a shotgun blast but from Will beating him senseless and snapping his neck. In turn, to “honor” him, Randall is mounted and put on display as a sabretooth tiger.

Adding to Will’s problems is the return of Freddie Lounds. Freddie doesn’t think Chilton is the Chesapeake Ripper, and when she sneaks onto Will’s property, she finds evidence that Will’s gone completely off the deep end. Will manages to catch up with her, and drag her screaming from her car…and that’s the last we hear of her, at least this episode.

Finally, just as fascinating is what happens to Margot. Margot’s reaction to discovering her brother plans to murder her horribly is… to pretend she’s straight and seduce Will. Even Will is skeptical of what’s happening: He bluntly tells her she doesn’t have any sexual interest in him. But for Margot to survive, and to get Mason before he gets her, there needs to be a Verger heir who isn’t Mason. So Margot pretends to be someone she isn’t.

The episode ends on a similar note, with Will confessing he’s brought Hannibal a little offering of long pig. As the episode comes to an end, Hannibal seems to fade through Will’s skin, raising the question of whether Will knows quite what he’s doing.

Some more thoughts:

The “threesome” scene between Will, Hannibal, and Alana is both sad and disturbing. Will’s really, really not over Alana.

Freddie Lounds isn’t dead this episode, we can guarantee it. Especially since Will’s attack saved her from certain death at the plastic-coated hands of Hannibal.

Sorry, Chilton fans, but unfortunately this episode rather bluntly closes the door on any possible comeback. Well, at least in the land of the living.

You have to wonder if Will’s going kamikaze, here. Even if the death of Randall Tier was obviously justifiable homicide, he’s got no proof of that, and juries tend to frown on corpse mutilation, not to mention storing bits in the freezer.

The meat they’re eating isn’t Freddie, but, uh, that does raise the question of who and what it is.

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Crazy episode. If Freddie isn’t dead, then who or what were they eating? Could it have been pork or some other non-human meat. I’d think you couldn’t fool Hannibal that way.

It seems Will is going to completely sacrifice his soul to prove Hannibal is a psycho. Even if he doesn’t kill Freddie, what he did to Randall Tier is going way beyond the scope of his moral compass. I was actually shocked that he did this and even more shocked that he kept parts in his freezer.

Perhaps I’m overly optimistic – but since that conversation between Jack and Will while they’re ice-fishing, I get the impression that Will knows exactly what he’s doing. In Season 1 he seemed uncomfortable with his facility, frightened and unsure of himself – but since being released from the BHCI he seems much more confident and sure of himself, like an entirely different person.

I don’t think they were eating Freddie Lounds (although I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t catch the ‘you slice the ginger’ line right away). I think Chilton is still alive as well. It’s all part of Will’s long con.

Michael Pitt’s interpretation of Mason Verger took some getting used to. It bordered on being a bit over the top. I hope it’s a just bit more toned down in subsequent episodes.

On a side note, why was Hannibal serving that red with pork? A nice Meursault would’ve been better.

I really liked Michael Pitt’s performance. I know he’s meant to be a douche but you can’t deny he’s a very talented actor. Every second he was on screen it was tense and he made my skin crawl. I wonder how long it will be before he gets all scarred up?

@Wizardeyes: He was good. It had traces of Gary Oldman, but was unique at the same time (much like Esparza’s interpretation of Chilton). It did however take some getting used to. By the time Mason meets with Hannibal, he’d already toned it down just a bit.

I have every confidence that Pitt’s interpretation of the character will continue to get better and better.

Pitt came really close to being over the top, but his character works because he’s so conversationally monstrous. The fact that there’s that entire scene with the pigs and he just glosses over the whole situation with “Oh, I’ll buy you a new one” says a lot.

Yeah agree with both you guys. I’ve been rewatching season 1 (making my sister watch it) at the same time as watching season 2 and although I really liked season 1 I think that season 2 is a massive improvement. It’s much faster paced and is so much more dynamic. Season 1 drags a fair bit in places and the conversations go round in circles some times – the amount of times they discuss Will’s mental state “You’re pushing him too far” – Alana. “He’s fine” – Jack. Season 2 is awesome and I really hope they get a third. If NBC doesn’t give them one what are the chances of Netflix or Amazon stepping up?

I hate to ‘lower the tone of the discourse’ but…I never found Katherine Isabelle particularly attractive, but the wardrobe, makeup and the cinematographer made her look absolutely incredible.

During the episode, I found myself thinking: “If she showed up at my door right now carrying a bottle of whiskey – ulterior motive or not – I’d have a really hard time saying no.” Additionally if I was in bed with her, I wouldn’t be thinking about Alana Bloom…(although that love scene was weird and really interesting)

Although I think that Margot is gay, there was enough sexual tension there for her to sleep with Will. To what end? If I had to guess I’d say she wants to get pregnant – so she can kill Mason (or have someone else do it) and inherit the family fortune. I’m also assuming it’d have to be a boy.

You see a bloody hole in his cheek, but that’s it. Chilton’s alive somewhere. Hannibal ‘relaxes’ because he thinks he’s successfully shifted the blame for those murders to Chilton. He lets his guard down a bit, allowing Will to get close to him and find concrete proof of his guilt or catch him ‘in the act’. Jack has him in Witness Protection. They’ve done the same thing with Freddie.

@warrenbishop “they” haven’t done the same with freddie. will’s got freddie locked up somewhere, else jack would know that will’s gone off the reservation and has the animal suit slung up in his garage.

So, Will brought Randall Tier to Hannibal’s and presented him like a cat and then what? Brings him back home, cuts him up, makes the saber tooth Randall statue, breaks into the museum, sets it up completely undetected, and then goes home to prepare filets?

What happened to the dog that Randall sliced open? Did we see him again?

And lastly, the recorded message from Freddie was played for Alana as well. It could have been part of the plan for baiting her. They suspect that Chilton’s house was set-up by Hannibal, it would be fair to say that they’d argue Hannibal set up Will’s.

By: zanzaboonda

05.06.2014 @ 11:33 PM

Bryan Fuller has hinted many times that Chilton is alive. Then he confirmed it on The Dinner Party Show.

I really thought the meat was Freddie. I mean, that exchange that Will and Hannibal had regarding ‘scared prey’ and being able to taste it in the meat surely meant it was Freddie? (Sidenote: good riddance if it is her. I absolutely despised her).

I thought it was pretty clear that they were eating what’s left of Randall. Seemed like that was why (in addition to the manbearwolf suit) they showed the freezer full of preserved parts as evidence for Freddie.

I think that Will going off the deep end is definitely a long con on Hannibal, killing Randall was shocking (and I’m pretty sure that’s who they’re eating at the end of the episode) but there’s no way he can kill Freddie and be redeemed. I know Freddie gets a lot of hate but I think she’s a really interesting character, she’s the only person that really sees what’s going on but because she’s a scumbag no one believes her

There’s no way Freddie’s dead. We all know from past experience is that the only way to kill Freddie is to have his daughter pull him out of the dream world, stab him with his own knife glove, and stick a pipe bomb into that wound so he can look at the camera, say “…Kids.” and blow up releasing the dream demons. Even then, there will be more sequels.

Seriously, though, I really loved this episode. It was an excellent return to psychological horror after last week’s slasher flick feel. I’m really curious just how far down the rabbit home Will has gone and how far he can actually come back. He’s confirmed that Hannibal kills, manipulates others to kill, and eats victims. How will this change him, and how will this lead to Jack’s fight with Hannibal? Something sure does; I’m guessing we’ll see that take shape over the next couple of episodes.

That blinking sabertooth Randall creeped me out. I’d love to see what the effects team could do with the Hellraiser universe, considering some of the tableaus have practically been from there already (also: Mads as Pinhead? YES!).

I’m gonna agree with some others on this thread. Will is “expanding his boundaries” to try and get to Hannibal. He killed Randall and displayed him as the sabertooth. I also think the meat at the end was from Randall. Will had large parts of him stored in the freezer. I don’t think Hannibal would be fooled by non-human meat and Randall probably did die scared. Freddie ain’t dead yet. Just how far is WIll Graham willing to go to get a shot at Hannibal Lecter? Pretty damn far, it appears.

I think everyone nailed Margot’s plan. She wants to get pregnant and deliver a male Verger heir, then be free to murder Mason. I doubt Mason will go along with the plan. If he finds out she’s pregnant, things will go badly.

I never get tired of seeing how Fuller et al choose to tweak the source material as they adapt it for TV. It’s incredible to me the way they’re somehow successfully staying true to the feel and themes of the source novels without staying staunchly faithful to the story arcs. I mean it’s crazy, right? This is a goddamn masterclass every week for how you take well-known book series and make it new AND familiar for a weekly audience.